From Barclays courtesy of the SMH blog today:
“While income growth is slowing in China, we see the potential for looser Chinese domestic and overseas regulations to actually spur a near-term acceleration in travel. First, passport penetration in China in May 2012 was only 38 million, less than 3 per cent of the total population and growing at 20 per cent per annum, according to Xinhua News (16 May 2012). In addition, as countries vie for Chinese tourism dollars we expect to see further visa liberalisation for Chinese travellers globally,” the analysts write.
“Chinese outbound travel is likely to be an important, multi-decade structural theme in global airport investing. However, around this theme we highlight that Chinese travel patterns can be highly volatile in the short-term. The vast majority of Chinese international travel currently is to close proximity countries in Asia.”
That is some big numbers coming.
